Raiders still see big upside in Parker
Right tackle ready to apply lessons learned in Baltimore
Rookie right tackle Brandon Parker knew what to expect when the Raiders gathered Monday to review film of Sunday’s 34-17 loss to the Ravens.
But that didn’t make it easier to watch.
In the span of three fourthquarter plays by the Raiders’ offense, Parker was beaten for three sacks, all by Baltimore linebacker Matt Judon. The first resulted in a fumble that Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs returned for a touchdown, and sent quarterback Derek Carr limping off the field with an ankle injury. Carr returned only to be sacked on his next two snaps.
“Right after the game, I was sick,” Parker said. “Monday, seeing replays and stuff of it, just like, aw, it hurts you a little bit. Tuesday, still.”
Wednesday, though, sitting at his locker at the Raiders’ facility, Parker was ready to discuss and analyze the sequence.
The first sack came on 4thand-8, with Judon fighting around Parker’s block off the edge to strip Carr as he stepped up in the pocket. On the second, Judon feinted to go outside and cut back in to bring himself face-to-face with Carr. On the third, Judon again gave an inside move, this time causing Parker to get turned around, stumble and end up seated on the ground.
“The first play, I should’ve just finished,” Parker said. “The second two plays were just bad sets. It’s more about zeroing in on the details in the end and not getting so caught up in emotions.”
After allowing the first sack, which came with more than six minutes left and the Raiders trailing by 10 points, Parker said he felt he let his technique lapse trying to atone for that mistake.
“That’s always been one of my personal issues — because I’m so hard on myself and so critical of myself, if I mess up one time, sometimes I blow it up more than it needs to be,” Parker said. “Sometimes it just needs to be, ‘You messed up. Move on.’ I start getting real emotional about it, and that’s what causes me to get in that slump.”
It’s the kind of lesson Parker, a third-round draft pick out of North Carolina A&T, is being asked to learn on the job as the Raiders’ starting right tackle for much of his rookie season.
After the Raiders lost Pro Bowl tackle Donald Penn because of a groin injury in Week 4, Parker was called upon. And there have been growing pains in Parker’s 10 games, including Sunday’s fourth quarter and in Week 9 against the 49ers when he was benched for most of the first half following a rough first two series.
Head coach Jon Gruden suggested Monday that Parker might still be building strength and endurance at the NFL level, also praising Parker’s resilience in “some of the difficult situations that we’ve put him in early in his career.” Offensive coordinator Greg Olson said it’s common for first-time starters to overcompensate for mistakes.
“A lot of it comes down to confidence,” Olson said. “You look at those plays that came back to back, a big part of it was fundamental sets for him. So maybe he lost a little bit of confidence on the first play, so now he wasn’t as aware of his pass-set. Again it’s all about experience, and the only way you learn from that is to experience it.”
Parker said he has noted improvement in his pass-sets over the course of the season, staying squared up to rushers, even until the fourth quarter against the Ravens. He said his father, Curtis, a former lineman at North Carolina, has reminded him the benefit of starting as a rookie is that “you’re taking your lumps and bruises early.”
“That’s what a lot of people in my circle try to tell me — for what you are, what you’re doing, you’re doing fine,” Parker said. “But the perfectionist in me doesn’t see that.”
The effect of starting two rookie tackles in Parker and Kolton Miller has been felt largely by Carr, who has set a career high of 35 sacks through 11 games. Sunday, Carr had supportive words about Parker.
“I know the feeling when you’re a rookie, you make a mistake, it’s easy to point at the rookie and be like, ‘He’ll be all right someday,’ ” Carr said. “But you just let him know, man, he’s a heck of a player. He has great potential. Potential means you haven’t done it yet. But he does. He’s a guy that’s done a lot of good things for us. So you just reinforce like, man, stay the course.”
Parker said he didn’t talk with Carr after Sunday’s game, but the two addressed the three-sack sequence in a conversation in the weight room this week.
“He said, ‘You’re OK, man, just crap happens,’ ” Parker said. “That’s what he said. ‘You played a lights-out game. It just got you in the end. Trust me, you’re fine. I’m not worried about you at all.’”